Sex Work Would Be Broadly Legal in New York Under New Bill Introduced Monday

(NBC New York) June 10 2019 Sex work would be broadly legalized in New York state under a first-of-its-kind bill introduced by state legislators on Monday. A group of lawmakers first called for legislation in February but on Monday they finally came forward with a 13-page bill that would bring dramatic changes to the sex trade in the state. The bill written with advocacy group DecrimNY would make it legal to both buy and sell sex under certain circumstances and modifies laws around facilities that are used as places of prostitution. For us this is a bodily autonomy issue our bodies our choice but more than that its an economic issue. And its personal Jessica Raven one of Decrim NYs organizers wrote in a Daily News op-ed Monday. Two of the bills sponsors state senators Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar have said that 9 out of 10 people arrested in sex-work-related massage parlor raids are immigrants with most being undocumented Asians.